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BackgroundSchool closures during the COVID-19 pandemic may have exacerbated students’ loneliness, addictive gaming behaviors, and poor mental health. These mental health issues confronting young people are of public concern. ObjectiveThis study aimed to examine the associations between loneliness and gaming addiction behaviors among young people in Hong Kong and to investigate how familial factors, psychological distress, and gender differences moderate these relationships. MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted in June 2020 when schools reopened after 6 months of school closures. Participants included 2863 children and adolescents in primary (Grades 4 to 6) and secondary (Grades 7 and 8) schools (female participants: 1502/2863, 52.5%). Chi-square tests, one-way analyses of variance, and independent-samples t tests were performed to compare the differences of distribution in gaming addiction behaviors across gender, age, and other sociodemographic characteristics. Multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors that relate to excessive or pathological gaming behaviors separately, in comparison with leisure gaming. ResultsA total of 83.0% (2377/2863) of the participants played video games during the COVID-19 pandemic. The prevalence of excessive and pathological game addiction behaviors was 20.9% (597/2863) and 5.3% (153/2863), respectively. More male students had gaming addiction symptoms than female students. The multinomial logistic regressions showed that feeling lonely was associated with more problematic gaming behaviors, and the association was stronger for older female students. Low socioeconomic status, less parental support and less supervision, and poor mental health were risk factors for gaming addiction behaviors, especially among primary school students. ConclusionsLoneliness was associated with gaming addiction behaviors; the findings from this study suggested that this association was similar across gender and age groups among young people. Familial support and supervision during school closures can protect young people from developing problematic gaming behaviors. Results of this study have implications for prevention and early intervention on behalf of policy makers and game developers.

Anchoring force loss is critically concerned for the in-service performance of prestressed ground anchors. This time- dependent loss of pretension exerted at the anchor head is caused primarily by stress relaxation, which integrally manifests the rheological properties of the anchor and the geomaterial in which the anchor is embedded. A load-transfer modeling framework was established to derive the time-dependent anchoring force response. The modeling parameters were directly calibrated via element-scale pullout stress relaxation test using a specially developed setup. The applicability and effectiveness of this analytical modeling framework were verified via large-scale laboratory model tests and in situ tests of prestressed anchors. The predictions derived using the presented modeling framework were in good agreement with measurements in both laboratory model tests and in situ tests, particularly for evolutions of anchoring force over time. Sensitivity evaluation of the model parameters was performed to study their respective impact on the anchoring force loss response. This work can provide insights into the understanding of the anchoring force loss behavior of prestressed ground anchors and facilitate their design practice for in-service performance. Key words: prestressed ground anchor, anchoring force loss, relaxation, load transfer La perte de la force d'ancrage est un probleme critique pour la performance en service des ancrages de sol precontraints. Cette perte de la precontrainte exercee a la tete de l'ancrage, qui depend du temps, est causee principalement par la relaxation des contraintes, qui se manifeste integralement par les proprietes rheologiques de l'ancrage et du geomateriau dans lequel il est encastre. Un cadre de modelisation du transfert de charge a ete etabli pour deriver la reponse de la force d'ancrage en fonction du temps. Les parametres de modelisation ont ete directement calibres par un essai de relaxation de la contrainte d'arrachement a l'echelle de l'element a l'aide d'une configuration specialement developpee. L'applicabilite et l'efficacite de ce cadre de modelisation analytique ont ete verifiees par des essais a grande echelle en laboratoire et des essais in situ sur des ancrages precontraints. Les predictions obtenues a l'aide du cadre de modelisation presente etaient en bon accord avec les mesures effectuees lors des essais sur modele en laboratoire et des essais in situ, en particulier pour l'evolution de la force d'ancrage dans le temps. L'evaluation de la sensibilite des parametres du modele a ete realisee pour etudier leur impact respectif sur la reponse de la perte de la force d'ancrage. Ces travaux peuvent permettre de mieux comprendre le comportement de la perte de force d'ancrage des ancrages de sol precontraints et faciliter leur conception pour les performances en service. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : ancrage de sol precontraint, perte de force d'ancrage, relaxation, transfert de charge, 1. Introduction Ground anchors have been widely adopted in various anchored geotechnical applications, such as dams, slopes, tunnels, and deep foundation pits, owing to their unique virtues of simple constructability, [...]

Identity-based motivation theory predicts that how sure students are of attaining their academic possible identities (possible identity certainty) interacts recursively with the inferences they make thinking about schoolwork feels hard—this is important for me (difficulty-as-importance) and this is just not for me (difficulty-as-impossibility). Recursivity implies bidirectionality across time points. To date, studies primarily from the U.S. and China only document a shift up or down from one time to a second time. We address this method gap with a three-time-point, two-month study during a secondary school transition (Chinese students N = 818, Mage = 12, 44% female). We obtained prior grades (T0) and placement test scores (T1+). Students filled out questionnaires at critical junctures: a month before the placement test (T1), the day test results were announced (T2), and after learning their school placement (T3). Across three time points, structural equation model results show bidirectional paths linking academic possible identity certainty and difficulty-as-importance beliefs. Controlling for prior grades, students higher in possible identity certainty at T1 scored higher on their placement tests at T1+. Students with higher T1+ placement test scores had higher difficulty-as-importance at T2, controlling for T1 their difficulty-as-importance score. Students with higher T2 difficulty-as-importance had higher T3 possible identity certainty, controlling for their T2 possible identity certainty score. The reverse was also true—students with higher T2 possible identity certainty had higher T3 difficulty-as-importance, controlling for their T2 difficulty-as-importance score. In contrast, controlling for prior scores, from T1 to T2 and T2 to T3 possible identity certainty and difficulty-as-impossibility were unidirectionally related. Students with higher possible identity certainty had lower difficulty-as-impossibility beliefs and not the reverse. Taken together, our results support a recursive process by which difficulty-as-importance beliefs support academic goal pursuit by bolstering students' certainty of attaining their possible identities and certainty reduces difficulty-as-impossibility beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more researchers are studying the heat transfer performance of aeronautical materials at high temperatures. In this paper, we use a quartz lamp to irradiate fused quartz ceramic materials, and the sample surface temperature and heat flux distribution were obtained at a heating power of 45~150 kW. Furthermore, the heat transfer properties of the material were analyzed using a finite element method and the effect of surface heat flow on the internal temperature field was investigated. The results show that the fiber skeleton structure has a significant effect on the thermal insulation performance of fiber-reinforced fused quartz ceramics and the longitudinal heat transfer along the rod fiber skeleton is slower. As time passes, the surface temperature distribution tends to stability and reaches an equilibrium state. The surface temperature of fused quartz ceramic increases with the increase in the radiant heat flux of the quartz lamp array. When the input power is 5 kW, the maximum surface temperature of the sample can reach 1153 °C. However, the non-uniformity of the sample surface temperature also increases, reaching a maximum uncertainty of 12.28%. The research in this paper provides important theoretical guidance for the heat insulation design of ultra-high acoustic velocity aircraft. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Possible selves provide a new perspective and a systematic way to learn about adolescents' envisioning of their own future. Literature shows some patterns of possible selves are universal worldwide while some are sensitive to context and culture. This study adapted the open-ended Possible Selves Questionnaire into Chinese and explored the general patterns of possible selves among adolescents in Chinese context. 3078 secondary school students in Hong Kong were surveyed about their possible selves and demographic factors. It is found that adolescents have more career- and school-related hoped-for possible selves and have more drug and risky behaviour feared possible selves. Adolescents have less strategy, especially concrete strategy for their possible selves. Gender and age differences were examined and potential contextual and cultural influences were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: Depression and anxiety are common mental health problems among adolescents worldwide. Extant research has found that intelligence, emotion, and failure-is-debilitating beliefs (fixed mindsets) are closely related to more depression and anxiety symptoms, hopelessness, and suicidality. Recent research also points to the importance of parental mindset, which can strongly influence children's affect, behavior, and mental health. However, the effects of parent-child mindset interventions on a child's internalizing problems have not yet been empirically examined. As recent evidence has shown the promise of single-session interventions in reducing and preventing youth internalizing problems, this study develops and examines a parent and child single-session intervention on mindsets of intelligence, failure, and emotion (PC-SMILE) to tackle depression and anxiety in young people., Objective: Using a 3-arm randomized controlled trial, this study will examine the effectiveness of PC-SMILE in reducing depression and anxiety symptoms among children. We hypothesize that compared to the waitlist control group, the PC-SMILE group and child single-session intervention on mindsets of intelligence, failure, and emotion (C-SMILE) group will significantly improve child depression and anxiety (primary outcome) and significantly improve secondary outcomes, including children's academic self-efficacy, hopelessness, psychological well-being, and parent-child interactions and relationships, and the PC-SMILE is more effective than the C-SMILE., Methods: A total of 549 parent-child dyads will be recruited from 8 secondary schools and randomly assigned to either the PC-SMILE intervention group, the C-SMILE intervention group, or the no-intervention waitlist control group. The 45-minute interventions include parent-version and child-version. Both parents and students in the PC-SMILE group receive the intervention. Students in C-SMILE group receive intervention and their parents will receive intervention after all follow-up ends. Students in 3 groups will be assessed at 3 time points, baseline before intervention, 2 weeks post intervention, and 3 months post intervention, and parents will be assessed in baseline and 3-month follow-up. The intention-to-treat principle and linear-regression-based maximum likelihood multilevel models will be used for data analysis., Results: Recruitment started in September 2023. The first cohort of data collection is expected to begin in May 2024 and the second cohort will begin in September 2024. The final wave of data is expected to be collected by the end of the first quarter of 2025. The results are expected to demonstrate improved anxiety and depression among students assigned to the intervention condition, as well as the secondary outcomes compared to those in the control group. The efficacy and effectiveness of the intervention will be discussed., Conclusions: This study is the first attempt to develop a web-based single-session intervention for students and their parents to enhance their well-being in Hong Kong and beyond, which potentially contributes to providing evidence-based recommendations for the implementation of brief digital parent-child interventions., International Registered Report Identifier (irrid): PRR1-10.2196/63220., (©Shimin Zhu, Yuxi Hu, Ruobing Wang, Di Qi, Paul Lee, So Wa Ngai, Qijin Cheng, Paul Wai Ching Wong. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 30.08.2024.)